The Great was created, and is mostly written, by Australian playwright and screenwriter Tony McNamara, based on his 2008 play of the same name.

The series is highly fictionalized and portrays Catherine in her youth and marriage to Emperor Peter III of Russia, focusing on the plot to kill her depraved and dangerous husband.

Grigor realizes that Catherine now knows what happened to Joanna and warns Peter, who plans to flee with Paul, but finds he cannot take his son from his mother.

The royal astronomer, Nikolai Shostakich, informs Catherine that a comet which only comes once in 75 years will pass through Russia in the next few days.

While playing Russian Roulette, an intruder tries to kill Catherine, and she uses the gun to shoot him instead; this epiphany allows her to come out of her daze and grief.

The series is based upon Tony McNamara's play revolving around Catherine the Great, which premiered at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008.

The series was written by Tony McNamara who also served as an executive producer alongside Elle Fanning and Marian Macgowan.

[19] On February 11, 2019, it was announced during the Television Critics Association's annual winter press tour that Hulu had given the production a series order.

In November 2018, it was announced that Phoebe Fox, Sacha Dhawan, Charity Wakefield, and Gwilym Lee had joined the cast of the pilot.

[24] Principal photography for the pilot episode had commenced by November 2018 in York, England with other filming locations expected to include Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Hever in Kent.

The main filming locations were Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire and the Royal Palace of Caserta in southern Italy.

[36] StarzPlay also distribute the series in Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Latin America and Brazil.

"[41] According to Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd, "McNamara had jotted down some names, relationships and a few historical bullet points, torn up the paper, and started writing.

[48] In the series, Peter III is portrayed as a native-born Russian who is deeply connected to his country and its traditions, and opposition to Catherine's rule often centres around her being a German foreigner.

[45] His overthrow was heavily due to the military and local nobility's support for Catherine's Russian patriotism as opposed to the pro-Prussian policy and attitude of Peter III.

The circumstances of Peter III's death remain shrouded in mystery, with different accounts and theories alleging disease, accident, drunken brawl or deliberate assassination as the cause.

This ambiguity and suspicion is alluded to in the third-season finale "Once Upon a Time", when Catherine orders differing and contradictory explanations of Peter's death to be circulated.

Many events from later in the real Catherine's 34-year reign are retrofitted into her first year or two in power in the series, such as the Russian-Ottoman War of 1768 to 1774 and Russia's response to the American Revolution.

[51] Count Orlo's name suggests the historical Prince Grigory Orlov, who as in the series played a key role in Catherine's coup, had a love of culture and Enlightenment ideals, and promoted smallpox vaccination.

In the series this is transformed to a claim made repeatedly, though groundlessly, by Catherine's contemporaries that she had sexual intercourse with a horse before coming to Russia.

The website's critical consensus reads, "The Great can't quite live up to its namesake, but delicious performances from Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult and a wicked sense of humor make it a pretty good watch.

The website's critical consensus reads, "The Great continues its revisionist reign stronger than before thanks to its addictive wit and marvelous cast − huzzah!